Vania



J. S. BANCROFT & M. C. INDAHL.

Patented Aug". 1, 1916.

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JOHN SELLERS BANCRDFT AND MAURI'IE C. INDAEEL. 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYL- VANIA, ASSIG-NORS TO LANSTQN MUNOTYPE MACHINE CUMPANY, 0F PHILADEL- CPI-TIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF VIRGINIA.

KEYB OARD-IKAGHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 11, Mlle.

Application filed January 11, 1915. Serial No. 1,657.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, JOHN SELLERS BAN- caor'r and Maunrrz C. lnnarrn, citizens of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in tl e county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Keyboard-Machines; and we do hereby declare the following to he a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and to the figures and letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to improvements in keyboard machines and has been designed with especial reference to record strip composing machines, such forexample as those employed in. the Lanston monotype system, wherein a record strip is suitably perforated to form the controlling member in a type casting machine. An example of a machine such as that referred to will be found in United States patent to Bancroft and Indahl, No. 9 l lfl05, dated December 28, 1909, although it will be understood that the invention may be applied to or embodied in keyboard machines of any type and for any desired purpose, where it is desired to make use of a series of parallel bars adapted to be controlled or actuated by the keys and to in turn perform functions in the operation of the machine.

The object of the invention is to provide a means whereby the parallel bars controlled or actuated by the keys may be grouped closely and made relatively thin without danger of interference one with the other or of binding by reason of lateral pressure between adjacent bars such as would increase the load onthe keys by reason of frictional resistance.

A further object of the invention is to do away with the necessity of employing spacing guides between adjacent bars, and at the same time to effectually separate and guide the bars individually so as to prevent cumulative lateral pressure being transmitted from one bar to the other and to permit of the bars being assembled more compactly than would be possible with the employment of spa cing guides such as have been heretofore employed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the keyboard portion of a record strip composing machine, this view substantially correspondng to a portion of Fig. 3 of the patent here inbefore referred to. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation substantially in the plane indicated by the dot-ted line 2,2 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of figure 2 with the proportions of the parts somewhat exaggerateo for illustrative purposes.

Like reference characters indicate the same parts in the several views.

The keyboard mechanism adopted for illustration of the present invention substantially corresponds to that shown and de scribed in the before mentioned Patent No. 944,405, to which patent reference may be had for a more complete understanding of parts of the mechanism, an illustration of which is not deemed necessary for a complete understanding of the present invention.

In said drawings, the reference numeral 1 indicates the frame of the machine, and 2 the removable key bank frame in which are mounted a series of keys 3 usually of bell crank lever formation, adapted when depressed to cooperate with projections on one or the other of a series of key bars 5. The key bars 5 are provided at their lower edges with projections 6 for cooperation with the upper bars or bails 7 carried by rock shafts 8 journaled in the frame of the machine and having other bars or bails 9 adapted to co operate with upwardly extending projec tions 10 on valve bars 11. With this con struction the depression of a key 3 will move one of the key bars 5 longitudinally and the latter through the rock shaft and bails will move one or a predetermined group of valve bars forwardly to open valves 1:2 for operating or controlling thepunching and record strip feeding mechanism in the well understood way.

The key bars 5 and valve bars 11 are mounted respectively in the key board frame -2 and frame of the machine and must of course be guided so as to move with freedom and at the same time their positions must be controlled accurately in order that they may properly perform their functions. Because of thegreat number of key bars desirable in a keyboard machine, the matter of guiding and supporting them so as to be free from frictional resistance and so that they may be grouped in a compact body, is one of considerable importance, and while each bar might be separately mounted in guideways as illustrated for example in the patent hereinbefore referred to, such construction has the disadvantage of necessitating an open arrangement of the bars, and thus they occupy a greater lateral space than is desirable or necessary for the proper grouping and spacing of the keys which cooperate with them. Without the employment of means whereby the bars will be guided and held against cumulative lateral pressure, friction between the bars imposes a greatly increased load on the keys, and the opera tion of the board is correspondingly laborious to the operator, and tends to give a sluggish action. To overcome all of these diificulties, the bars are, in the present invention, held by guiding members which embody spacing projections located between alternate bars to form side guides therefor, said projections themselves forming edge guides for the intermediate bars, and in'the preferred arrangement the spacing projections at opposite edges of the bars are alternately arranged, each projection being preferably of very slightly greater thickness than the bars with which it cooperates, and the recesses between the projections are'of dimensions which preferably correspond to the dimensions of the projections themselves; thus, each bar will be independently supported and guided, and the space between adjacent bars may be reduced to a. point which would be impossible, were side guides or spacers employed between adjacent bars.

The guiding members which in the machine illustrated are also the supporting members for the bars, are indicated at 14c, 15 and 16, 17, being arranged at the front and rear of the .keyboard frames, whereby the bars are supported at their ends and their intermediate portions left entirely free for cotiperation with the controlling and operating parts of the mechanism. By reference to Figs. 2 and 3 which show the guiding members 1 1 and 15 in elevation, it will be seen that each of said members is provided with spacing projections 20 and intermediate recesses 21. The projections and recesses are preferably made a few thousandths of an inch wider than the thickness of the bars, the proportions being considerably exaggerated in Fig. 3, in order to illustrate the invention to better advantage, and inasmuch as it is desirable to make the bars all of substantially the same width, and to guide and space them at opposite edges, the projections and recesses at the opposite edges of the bar, to wit: at the top and bottom edges as shown in Fig. 3 are alternately arranged, that is to say, the projections 20 of one guiding member are opposite the recess 21-of the cooperating guiding member, whereby a bar at one edge is guided in a recess formed by the adjacent projections, which latter therefore constitute side guides for that edge of the bar, while at its opposite edges it is guided by the face of the projection which constitutes an edge guide, and the two adjacent bars will constitute the side guides. The arrangement illustrated in Fig. 3, in addition to the advantages hereinbefore stated, has the advantage of preventing the sides of adjacent bars from coming together throughout an extended area for the tipping or inclination of either of two adjacent bars will cause contact at one edge only. Thus, there can be no extended frictional area which can by any possibility retard or materially interfere with the operation of a bar or cause an adjacent bar to move therewith when it is actuated. 7

It will be understoodv that the guiding members described specifically in connection with Figs. 2 and 3 are duplicated at both ends of the bars but may be located elsewhere along thebars if found desirable in the particular machine in which the invention is to be incorporated. It is not desired to limit the invention either to the particularrecord strip composing machine adopted for illustrative purposes, nor to the specific preferred form of the invention, for it is obvious that it may be carried into effect by equivalent means which will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

1. In a keyboard machine, the combination with a series of actuating keys, a series of relatively movable parallel bars actuated by said keys, and guiding members for said bars embodying spacing projections located between alternate bars to form side guides therefor, said projections forming edge guides for the intermediate bars.

' 2. In a keyboard machine, the combination with a series of actuating keys, guiding members embodying alternate projections and recesses and a series of parallel key controlled bars .mounted in said guiding members with alternate bars in the recesses, whereby lateral pressure between the bars is prevented.

3. In a keyboard machine, the combination with a series of actuating keys, a series of relatively movable parallel bars actuated by said keys, and guiding members for said bars embodying spacing projections located between alternate bars to form side guides therefor, said projections being of greater width than the thickness of the bars and forming edge guides for the intermediate bars. I

4. In a keyboard machine, the combina tion with a series of actuating keys, guiding members embodying alternate projections and recesses, and a series of parallel key controlled bars mounted in said guiding members with alternate bars in the recesses and intermediate bars cooperating at the edges with the projections, said bars being of less thickness than the width of the proj ections and recesses, respectively.

5. In a keyboard machine, the combination with a series of actuating keys, a series of relatively movable parallel bars actuated by said keys, and top and bottom guiding members for said bars embodying spacing projections located between alternate bars to form side guides therefor, said projections forming edge guides for the intermediate bars and the projections on the upper guiding member being located opposite the recesses between projections on the lower guiding member.

6. In a keyboard machine, the combination with a series of actuating keys, a series of relatively movable parallel bars actuated by said keys, and upper and lower guiding members for said bars embodying spacing projections located between alternate bars to form side guides therefor, said projections forming edge guides for the intermediate bars, the projections on the upper guiding member being located opposite the recesses between projections on the lower guiding member and said projections and recesses being of greater width than the thickness of the bars guided thereby.

7. A keyboard machine embodying aseries of closely grouped parallel actuating bars and guiding members for said bars having projections located between alternate bars to form side guides therefor, said pro jections forming edge guides for the intermediate bars.

JOHN SELLERS BANOROFT. MAURITZ O. INDAHL.

Witnesses:

GRovER G. LODGE, SAMUEL It. DAVIS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

